January 8th, 2007 → 9:19 pm @ terry // No Comments
I doubt that my writings will bring tears to your eyes like mine when I watch ”It’s A Wonderful Life” but I’m going to try real hard to convince you that I am having a wonderful life.
Today is probably going to be one of those days that will be easy to recall for a long time to come. I have a lot to talk about today: phone calls, inspections, manual updates, gifts and more.
Let the first words out of mouth be “Thank you so very much” to whomever sent me one of the books from my Amazon Wish List, “Syndicating Web Sites with RSS Feeds”! You really can’t know how deeply I appreciate the fact that you did that for me. I will probably read this book tonight. I’m so interested in the subject that I want to read it now to see how soon I can re-read it! I guarantee you I will find information in the book that will be beneficial to you. That’s how it works around here – I have the fun creating internet stuff and hope that it benefits you.
Some of you may be interested in the business stuff. Well, let’s get that out of the way. There were thirty-six inspections on my route and Vickie called me with two more. That helps create the supersecretcodefortheday (38•6.50).
I also asked how many new jobs came in today. Here is the report I got:
I really think everyone’s forecast for the year is coming true quite early. This is normally a dead time of the month but these numbers tell me something is going on.
I had eight properties that were FTV, first time vacancy. That’s a lot! I checked all eight of these properties in December and they were occupied. Now they’re vacant. When I see this in January, it makes me think the occupants held on until Christmas and then moved out. I will know more, of course, as I see the types of services I am called on to do in months to come.
I also had new properties that I have never done before.  That tells me that delinquencys are increasing.
I had one house that I spent over thirty minutes looking for and had actually given up trying to find it. I decided it might help to call Vickie and have her research the property in the county tax records so I drove up the street about a half mile and pulled into a driveway to get out of traffic and make my call. While waiting with cell phone to my ear, I looked above the garage door and saw 626. It was the house I was looking for and it was between 744 and 746. Funny, I mention stuff like this in my business manual and then I don’t do as I teach: look for the house where it is not supposed to be!
I passed by one house that was not on this route but shows up every month. Last month I had reported that the house had been broken into so I stopped to see if the company had made my recommended re-securing. Guess what? Nope. Back door still wide open and will not lock due to busted door and frame. Looks like it was kicked in.
Here’s a good one. I can’t blame the company for trying to make an extra buck or two but I hope they don’t expect me to play along too long. On the company’s regular occupancy inspection form, the instructions said “Need tag number and condition of RV”.  Hmmm. Looks like this mortgage inspection company now has a RV financing account. These type of inspections normally pay around $25 from companies like NC or CC. Guess this company puts the inspection request on a property inspection form so they can get it done for $6.50.
I’ve been concerned some time about one little word: “venue”. Look it up in your dictionary or visit www.FieldInspectors.com and look it up in the glossary there. You should take notice to the word and any paragraph containing the word. Here’s the bottom line: this company puts a notice at the bottom of their forms that says if there is any legal action to be taken, the venue will be in the state they are located in. Think for a minute or two here. If you are a small mom and pop outfit located in Arizona and lets say this company sues you in Connecticut, you have a problem! Most mom and pop outfits can not afford an attorney in their hometown much less clear across the country. I’ve mentioned it elsewhere – if you are going to get into this business, check out www.PrepaidLegal.com. I use their legal services and I am also an independent  sales associate. If you have questions go to their site or e-mail me.
I took plenty of notes today. I had calls from three different people today and all of them were inspiring. I will use the notes to update the business manual and I am going to ask all three for permission to tell a bit about our conversations. You may want to look for some of this infomation later in the week.
See ‘ya later-I’ve got a book to read!
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